Indian Union and Pakistan After the Partition of India

(M. Alexeyev)

One of the manifestations of the
deepening of the general crisis of capitalism after the Second World
War is the sharpening of the colonial crisis. This sharpening is
expressed, as pointed out by Com. A. A. Zhdanov, "in the rise of the
powerful movement for national liberation in the colonies and
dependencies. This has placed the rear of the capitalist system in
jeopardy. The peoples of the colonies no longer wish to live in the old
way. The ruling classes of the metropolitan countries can no longer
govern the colonies on the old lines" (from the speech at the
conference of the representatives of the nine Communist parties, in
September, 1947).

The sharpening of the crisis of the colonial system had a very
powerful influence on India's national liberation movement. After the
termination of the war, the anti-imperialist movement which had been in
existence before and during the war, grew stronger and took such forms
as threatened the British colonial rule.

The conditions of the working people of India, who were starving
even before the war, grew far worse during the war period. On account
of the imperialist exploitation and feudal survivals prevalent if the
Indian villages, there was a food shortage in the country, making it
necessary to import food from outside. The famine which was raging
throughout India, assumed catastrophic proportions in Bengal. After the
war, famine spread to South and Central India. Poor tenant farmers were
driven from their land because of the debts they owed to the landlords
and money-lenders, and were deprived of all the means of earning their
livelihood. The condition of the working class also grew seriously
worse. Food articles grew dearer more than two times in 1947 as
compared with 1939, and at places 3 to 3½ times, while the wages
remained almost stationary.

Hatred towards the British enslavers reached its climax. It was
manifested in mass demonstrations of protest in Calcutta and in Bombay
in the autumn of 1945, in the tremendous increase in strike struggles
(in 1946 nearly 2 million workers participated in strikes) and in the
discontent in the army and the navy. The mutiny of the ratings in the
R.I.N. which broke out in February 1946 was supported by mighty strikes
in solidarity with it, in which more than 300 thousand workers
participated; by strikes in the Air Force and "mutinies" in various
army units (in Jubbulpore, and Dehra Dun). In Bengal, Bihar and in a
number of states in South India, the peasant movement against the
landlords spread widely.

The upsurge of the national liberation movement in India was not
isolated. The successes of the democratic and national liberation
movement in China, exercised a great influence on the development of
the anti-imperialist struggle in India. The fight for independence,
spread to Indonesia, Viet Nam, Burma, Ceylon and all other countries of
South Asia. The attempts to suppress the national liberation movement
with military force resulted in colonial wars, as far example, in
Indonesia and Viet Nam.

Already during the period of the national liberation struggle which
followed the first world war, India big bourgeoisie and landlords,
alarmed at the growing working class movement and the development of
peasant revolution, entered into an agreement with the British
imperialism and betrayed the interests of their own country.

Com. Stalin pointed out in 1925, "In the conditions of existence of
such colonies as India, the basic and new thing consists not only in
the fact that the national bourgeoisie has been split up into the
revolutionary and the compromising parties, but above all in the fact
that the compromising part of the bourgeoisie has already come to a
settlement with imperialism on the main questions. More afraid of
revolution than of imperialism, more anxious about their money bags
than about the interests of their own country, this section of the
bourgeoisie which is the wealthiest and most influential has completely
gone over to the camp of the irreconcilable enemies of the revolution,
by forming a bloc with imperialism against the workers and peasants its
own country". (Marxism and National Colonial Question, page 209, 1939 Russian Edition).

Now after the Second World War, the big Indian bourgeoisie is having
recourse to a number of new manoeuvres on account of the new upsurge of
the national liberation struggle. Speculating on the anti-imperialist
movement of the masses, it is trying to bargain with the British ruling
circles for a number of concessions. They did not want real
independence of the country as they are afraid of anti-imperialist
revolution. At the same time, the big bourgeoisie is making all efforts
to keep the mass movement under its influence and prevent the working
class from leading it. By extensively utilising the anti-imperialist
and social demagogy, the big bourgeoisie appeals to the masses to
follow the Indian National Congress and its leaders -- Gandhi and
Nehru.

The British ruling circles who formerly tried to depict the Indian
struggle as a movement engineered by a handful of agitators and
instigators, not having deep roots in the people, were forced to admit,
as it is evident from the speeches of a number of labour ministers
during 1946, that the movement had assumed a mass character and was
threatening to sweep off the British domination. With a view to
preventing the collapse of their rule in India, the British colonial
masters decided, first of all to go in for some concessions to the
Indian big bourgeoisie and in the second place to intensify their
traditional policy of splitting the national-liberation movement on
religious and communal lines, by setting Hindus and Muslims against
each other.

In March 1946, a political mission composed of three British
Ministers headed by Pethick Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India,
was sent to India. The Mission worked out to plan about the form of
government for India, which provided for her partition into Hindu and
Muslim States. British imperialism calculated on maintaining its
position in India by contraposing these States to each other and
relaying upon the India feudal Princes.

However in the summer of 1946, the British ruling circles could not
reach a compromise with the Indian bourgeoisie on the basis of Pethick
Lawrence’s plan. The Indian National Congress whose leadership
represented the Indian big bourgeoisie, but had at that time a mass
following, opposed the division of the country on religious and
communal basis and demanded that a declaration granting complete
independence to India be made. The National Congress agreed to accept
Pethick Lawrence's plan only as a basis for consideration later in the
Constituent Assembly. The Muslim League accepted this plan, but it
could only count on the support of a minority of the population. But
cleverly manoeuvring, the British ruling circles tried to aggravate
differences between the Congress and the League and by inciting
Hindu-Muslim riots to increase pressure on the bourgeois leadership of
the Congress.

In June 1946 the Muslim League declared that it would boycott the
convocation of the All India Convocation of the All India Constituent
Assembly and start a struggle for the formation of the independent
Muslim State of Pakistan. Then Lord Wavell, the Viceroy requested
Jawaharlal Nehru, the President of the National Congress to form a
Cabinet, leaving 5 places therein for the representatives of the
League. The National Congress this time accepted the Viceroy's proposal
and Nehru formed a Provincial Government.

The formation of the Provincial Government with Nehru at its head
served as an excuse for the Muslim League to launch a campaign for the
formation of an independent Muslim State. 16th of August 1946 was
declared as a day of struggle for Pakistan. On that day bloody
conflicts took place between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta, in Bengal
and later also in Bihar where they developed into a real massacre.
Bands of secret agents of the British police tried to provoke pogroms
throughout India by all possible means.

The British policy of setting Muslims against Hindus bore its
fruits. The single anti-imperialist front of the Hindus and Muslims was
disrupted. But the end of 1946 was marked by a new upsurge of the
working class movement in India. The strike wave spread to almost all
branches of the Indian industry. Not only workers but also the
Government office employees and teachers went on strike. Especially the
strike of the Post and Telegraph employees and of the Railwaymen was
marked by tenacity and organisation.

During this very period a wave of mass democratic movement rose up
against the rule of the Princes in the States. The peasants rose in the
revolt against the feudal-landlord exploitation and oppression. In the
States of Travancore and Hyderabad, this movement developed into
peasants' uprisings. India was on the eve of a national
anti-imperialist revolution. Not only the British rule in India but
also the class interests of the Indian bourgeoisie and landlords were
threatened.

The fear of the working class, the feat of the peasantry, pushed the
Indian big bourgeoisie to strike a new bargain with the British
colonial masters. This circumstance was also cleverly utilised by the
Labour Government.

On February 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister, Attlee made a
declaration in the House of Commons on the Government's India policy.
The following was the substance of this declaration:

1. The British Government will hand over power to Indians not later than June 1948.

2. Power will be handed over to the Central Government of India only
in case it is recognised by all the major political groups in the
country. In the absence of such a Government in India, the power will
be handed over to the Provincial Governments or to the Governments of
the groups of provinces which will come into existence by that time.

3. Viceroy Wavell has been recalled and Lord Mountbatten has been appointed to take his place.

Speaking in support of these proposals, Stafford Cripps and
Alexander declared that if Britain voluntarily did not hand over power
to Indians, a revolution would break out in India. Cripps said that
Britain could hold India by force for a number of years more but for
this purpose it would necessary to increase considerably contingents of
British forces there, which would be an unbearable burden for Britain.
According to the calculations of the Labour Party leaders, the
incentive for the Britishers to "quit" India, was to give Britain
possibility to maintain her rule in India.

The new British proposals quite clearly envisaged division of India
by handing over power not to the Central Government, but to the
Governments of the various provinces or of their groups. Nevertheless,
the top ranks of the Indian National Congress looked upon this new plan
favourably, and openly betrayed India's national interests. The
leadership of the National Congress, which reflected the interests of
the Indian big bourgeoisie, agreed to a compromise with British
imperialism on the basis of partitioning India along religious lines.
This time also as it happened several times before, British imperialism
retained India in its hands by making some concessions to the Indian
propertied classes, concessions with which their new betrayal of the
interest of their country was also purchased.

The Muslim League, which represented the interests of the Muslim
landlords and comprador commercial bourgeoisie, supported fully the
policy of the British Government. Because of the fear of the peasant
revolution, the leaders of the Muslim League in full agreement with
British imperialism favoured the partition of India and maintenance of
British domination. They demanded formation of the Muslim State, by
kindling religious animosity between the Hindus and the Muslims.

On the 3rd of June 1947, a new British plan for the division of
India, known as Mountbatten Plan was published. The new Plan appeared
as a result of an agreement between the British Government and the
Indian bourgeoisie and the Muslim landlords and in essence amounted to
the following proposals:

1. India to be divided into two dominions; Hindustan of the Hindus and Pakistan of the Muslims;

2. In order to define the boundaries of the dominions the following measures to be taken provisionally:

a) the question regarding the division of the provinces of the Punjab and Bengal to be decided;

b) referendum on the question whether the North-west Frontier province to be annexed to India or to Pakistan is to be held;

c) similar referendum to be held in Sylhet district of the Assam province;

d) the provincial legislative council of Sind to decide the question
about whether to join this province to Pakistan or to Hindustan.

3. Thereafter the Constituent Assemblies to be convened and the Governments of both the Dominions to be formed.

4. The States may join any of the newly formed Dominions.

The Muslim League as well as the National Congress accepted these
proposals and appealed to the people to collaborate with the British
authorities in putting the Mountbatten Plan into effect. On August 15,
1947, the Act about the partition of India came into force and in place
of the united India two "Dominions" were brought into being: Hindustan
which subsequently adopted the name "Indian Union" or simply the
"Dominion of India", and Pakistan. The country was found to have been
split into two parts in religious-communal principles. Neither the
national composition of the population, nor the economic ties, nor even
the territorial integrity was taken into consideration.

The partition of India could not solve and did not solve a single
problem including the Hindu-Muslim problem. On the contrary it
intensified the religious differences, especially in connection with
the partition of the province of the Punjab, and facilitated the
incitement of bloody conflicts between the Hindus, Sikhs and Musulmans.
Millions of refugees rushed from one dominion to another. Hindus and
Sikhs fled to Hindustan and Muslims to Pakistan. Whole villages were
depopulated, harvests were not gathered, fields were not sown. In
Hindustan, reactionary Hindu organisations -- the Hindu Mahasabha and
Rashtria Swayam Sevak Sangh as well as the Sikh Akali Party intensified
their activities of massacre; in Pakistan the National Guards were
organised by the Muslim League. These armed bands organised on fascist
lines, flooded with agents of the British secret police, organised
massacre of Musulmans in Hindustan, and of Hindus and Sikhs in
Pakistan. Fratricidal clashes in Hindustan and Pakistan were handy to
British imperialism and its agents. The partition of India was effected
with a view to maintain political and economic domination of British
imperialism in the country divided into parts.

The newly formed dominions are extremely artificial States from the
point of view of their economy and national composition of the
population. The population of the whole of Pakistan is about 70
millions. All the provinces, included in Pakistan are backward agrarian
regions. On its territory there is no more than 10% of the whole
industry, including also mining, since 90% of all the mines are
concentrated on the territory of Hindustan. Not a single big industrial
centre exists on the territory of Pakistan. Pakistan is a country with
typical colonial economy. This makes it easy for Anglo-American
imperialism to make Pakistan their agrarian appendage.

Pakistan is made of two parts separated from each other. In the West
the various provinces belonging to Pakistan are connected with each
other economically, they have a common network of railway lines, common
outlet to the sea through the port of Karachi. But between the Western
and the Eastern parts of Pakistan there is no economic connection.
Eastern Bengal is separated from the remaining provinces of Pakistan by
a distance of 1300 kilometres. Moreover the national composition of
Pakistan is not homogeneous.

The Indian Union has become relatively a more industrialised country
than India was before her partition. Nearly 90% of the entire industry
including also mining remains on its territory. Yet the economy of the
Indian Union also is a typical colonial economy. The main branch of
industry is textile. Metallurgy has developed very little, while
machine-building almost does not exist. Torn away from big agricultural
regions which have become parts of Pakistan, the Indian Union will
undoubtedly experience an acute shortage of raw materials and food
articles. The Indian Union is still more multinational than Pakistan.
The total population of the Indian Union is about 300 million, without
counting the population of the State of Hyderabad (16 million).

The partition of India was accomplished by the Labour Government
which is more supple and more capable of making use of social and
national demagogy, than the previous Conservative Government. It was
easier for the Labour Party to accomplish this manoeuvre because the
leaders of the Indian National Congress had always been maintaining
with them a certain contract and more willingly came to a compromise
with the Labour Cabinet.

It is characteristic that the Conservative Party supported the plan
of partitioning India, proposed by the Labour Government. This
testifies to the fact that the whole of this plan is a British
imperialist plan and corresponds with its interests and its
calculations. It is not without reasons that during the debate on the
Bill in the British House of Commons and the House of Lords, the
leaders of the Conservative Party greeted the Government's plan as one
which came to the rescue of the British imperialism, and the Labour
Government as the loyal defender of the interests of the British
Empire.

Having divided India and conferred on Hindustan and Pakistan “the
title of dominion”, British imperialism there by maintained its
colonial domination over India.

British capital fully and completely as in the past occupies a
commanding position in the economy of Hindustan and Pakistan. A
powerful lever of the colonial exploitation of India is the banking
system. All the big banks in India, with the exception of two, are
managed by British monopolists. Thus they are holding in their hands
the largest amount of capital which they can invest in industries,
Railways, Ports etc. Indian industry is fully dependent on the British
bankers. More than half of jute and tea industry of Hindustan, 1/3rd of
iron and steel industry, the whole mineral output, rubber plantations
etc. belong to British capital.

One of the levers of the British colonial domination in India are
the mixed Anglo-Indian Joint Stock Companies. By means of mixed
companies, which occupy important position in trade as well as in
industry, the interests of the Indian capitalists are closely bound up
with those of the British capitalists, with of course the dominating
role belonging to the latter.

The largest part of foreign trade is in British hands. The Indian
newspaper "Free Press Journal" wrote in January 1948, "the foreign
monopolies are continuing to control the largest part of the Indian
economy and particularly the foreign trade... 80% of the whole foreign
and internal trade is concentrated in the hands of 200 foreign firms".

Due to the insignificant specific weight of heavy industry, the
Indian Union is forced to import machinery and equipment for the
factories and workshops, a large portion of non-ferrous metals and a
considerable portion of steel required by it. During the war, British
pumped out of India a large amount of raw materials, food-stuffs and
manufactured goods without making any payment for them neither in cash
nor in goods. As a result of this Britain has become a fictitious
debtor to India and makes use of her indebtedness to keep Pakistan and
the Indian Union ties to herself; Britain's Sterling debt to India is a
special weapon for the financial enslavement of the country.

By holding in its hands the important economic levers, British
imperialism can -- as in the past -- exploit its colony, which now
comes forward under a new name of two "Dominions".

The British Government has outwardly ceased to command directly and
openly the new "Dominions". But the political positions of British
imperialism are so strong in India that the autonomy of the new
"Dominions" indeed is formal. Although all the ministers of the Indian
Union as well as of Pakistan and their Governors-General are Indians,
the leading positions in the permanent staff of the Government
Departments, in police and army of both the "Dominions", remain in the
hands of the Britishers. The Governors of a number of provinces are
British.

British imperialism has also retained in its hands military
positions in both the "Dominions". Majority of British officers, who
were serving in the Indian Army, have still remained there
"voluntarily". According to the "Indian News Chronicle", out of 19
British Major Generals and 280 Brigadiers, 16 Major Generals and 260
Brigadiers have agreed to serve in the Indian Army. The majority of the
officers' and Generals’ posts in the Army is in the hands of Britishers
as before.

Moreover as pointed out by "People's Age" Organ of the Indian
Communist Party, by dividing the Indian Army into two on religious
basis Britain has created two hostile camps with weak armies, depending
upon her support.

"Daily Worker" the Organ of the British Communist Party, wrote on
June 4, 1947, that the Mountbatten Plan was an unnatural division of
India, threw her economic and political cohesion to the four winds and
left untouched the independent feudal power of the princes' States the
strongest of which would enter into direct alliance with Britain. "But
a look at the map is sufficient", wrote "Daily Worker" to show the
patchiness of the proposed new Governments, the key position, of the
Indian States, and how the whole scheme is so balanced as to give the
Governor-General the role of Supreme Being, regulating the struggle of
the millions below...unable to rule in the old way, imperialism is
devising new ways based on the belief that the carving up of India and
the pilling of Hindu against Muslims will preserve the reality of power
in hands of the White Raj, even if the semblance is given up".

Thus Britain retains in her hands economic as well as political and
military levers in India in order to maintain her colonial domination
in both the "Dominions".

***

The basic tasks facing the Indian National Liberation Movement have
not been solved. India practically continues to remain as a colony, her
division into several feudal regions has not been done away with, the
national question has not been solved and the position of the broadest
strata -- not only workers, peasants, but also intelligentsia,
petty-bourgeoisie -- has not changed indeed.

Up to 1947, the big Indian bourgeoisie was not in power and
therefore tried to get masses on to its side in order with their help
to secure concessions from the British imperialism. But as soon as the
British imperialism granted "Dominion" status to India, it openly went
over to the camp of imperialism and reaction.

The National Liberation Movement in India aims at liberating the
country from the British domination and liquidating all feudal
survivals which the British imperialism has been supporting. The
Mountbatten Plan has maintained the colonial position of India. Thus
the country has not achieved independence. No essential changes in the
internal structure of Pakistan as well as Indian Union, have taken
place. In Pakistan where the landlords are in power, all the States
have fully retained their feudal political structure. The Government of
Pakistan has declared that it considered States as sovereign
governments and will not interfere in their internal affairs. Even in
the Indian Union where the bourgeoisie is in power and the Government
is headed by the leaders of the National Congress who formerly spoke
against the arbitrary feudal rule, the Princes have retained their
power.

Soon after the partition of the country mass democratic movement
began to grow in the States. The broadest strata of the population
demanded radical democratic reforms and sending to the Constituent
Assembly of India elected real representatives and not the nominees of
the Princes. In a number of State still more radical demands were put
forth; complete liquidation of the feudal power and incorporation of
the States into such parts of India as are populated by nationalities
inhabiting the given State. Thus the National Conference in the State
of Kashmir -- an organisation enjoying great influence among the
population -- demanded liquidation of the rule of the Maharaja of
Kashmir, transformation of Kashmir into a democratic republic, granting
all nationalities in Kashmir, of the right of self-determination
including the right to secede, introduction of agrarian reform, and
nationalisation of big industry.

Already in December 1946, the Indian bourgeoisie, alarmed at the
mass movement in the States, came to a settlement with the feudal
princes. The leadership of the Congress agreed that 50% of the
representatives of the States to the Constituent Assembly should be
elected by the population, to be more precise, by its propertied strata
and the remaining 50% should be nominated by the Princes. At the cost
of such a compromise the bourgeoisie got certain States to merge into
the adjoining provinces of the Indian Union -- Orissa, United Provinces
etc. Other small States were combined into Unions in Rajputana, Central
India, Kathiawad, Deccan, and hilly parts of the Punjab. In such Unions
various States have been retained as administrative units, their
princes are members of the Upper Chamber of the Union of the States,
and from among them a Rajpramukh is elected; the lower Chamber is
elected by the propertied strata. As a result of this, instead of 500
and odd small States, 25 big States have been created in Hindustan.
This not only does not liquidate the power of the princes but even
strengthens their position in the struggle against the democratic
movement of the toiling people.

These States remain as before the loyal support of British
imperialism, its weapon to bring pressure the bear upon the Governments
of the Indian Union and Pakistan.

The agrarian problem also has not been solved in India. In a number
of provinces of the Indian Union (United Provinces, Bihar) the local
authorities have prepared a Bill about buying off the lands owned by
the landlords at Government cost, by compensating the landlords with a
definite period with large sums (about 5 times the value of the annual
produce of the given estates). However even this law is not being put
into effect, and the landlords are trying to get still larger
compensation, while the Congress Governments are willing to meet their
demands.

In other provinces even such paltry land reform is not being
introduced. The landlords and money-lenders are continuing to exploit
the peasants as before. In more of the States, all the feudal services
and extortions, that existed in the past, have been retained and the
peasants are living in a semi-serf condition. Debt-slavery, which is
very widespread in India, also has not been liquidated. The peasantry
is doomed to chronic starvation as before.

One of the most important tasks, confronting the national liberation
movement in India, has been the solution of the national problem. India
is a multinational country. Each one of the nationalities has its own
language, its own ancient culture, its own national character. The
colonial oppression, feudal parceling out of India, supported by the
British imperialism, its administrative division which does not
correspond to the distribution of nationalities, have hindered
economic, political and cultural development of all the peoples of the
country. Her partition not only does not solve the national problem but
complicates it even further. Bengal and the Punjab have been torn to
pieces and partly handed over to Pakistan and partly to the Indian
Union.

In the Indian Union as well as in Pakistan national inequality is
prevalent. Hindi and English have been declared as State languages of
the Indian Union. The languages of most of the peoples of India, have
been reduced to a secondary position. In Pakistan the Government has
declared Urdu as the State language, although more than half of the
population does not know the language. The draft of the constitution of
the Indian Union gives such plenary powers to the President and the
Central Government that its national regions will have no autonomy.

The reactionary course followed by the ruling circles of Hindustan
and Pakistan, is manifested not only in their support to industries,
landlords and Princes and in repression of the mass democratic
movement, but also in the foreign policy.

The Government of Pakistan formed by the Muslim League is openly
under the thumb of British imperialism. It has declared from the very
beginning that it does not think of severing its connection with the
British Empire and that Pakistan will continue to remain in future as a
British dominion. It hails all British capitalists who would like to
invest their capital in industry in Pakistan.

British officers are the masters in Pakistan much more openly than
in the Indian Union. The Indian Press informed about signing of an
agreement granting military bases to British on the territory of
Pakistan. In the zone bordering on Iran, there are States and
territories inhabited by Afghan tribes, only formally forming parts of
Pakistan. In these regions are also concentrated – under the label of
the armies belonging to Pakistan and the States – British military
units, British air bases etc. Thus almost the whole of the North-West
Frontier of India, excepting that part which belongs to the State of
Kashmir, remains under the military control of Britain. The Governor of
the North-West Frontier Provinces of Pakistan is an Englishman,
Cunningham.

Precisely in this connection it is necessary to examine also the
problem of Kashmir. Kashmir is one of the big Indian States (with a
population of over 5 million)- and is inhabited mainly by the Kashmiris
who profess Islam. But Kashmir is ruled by the Maharaja of the State of
Jammu, who is a Hindu by religion. Thus the Kashmiris have been an
oppressed nation in their own country. The Kashmir ever since 1931,
peasant as well as national liberation uprisings have been breaking out
from time to time. In spite of the fact that the majority of the
Kashmiris are Musulmans, their leading organisation, namely the
National Conference, was connected not with the Muslim League, but with
the National Congress, because the League openly supported the
Maharaja. In 1946, once again there was an upsurge of the democratic
movement in Kashmir, demanding that the Maharaja should quite Kashmir
and that the latter should be transformed into a democratic republic.
But the British authorities helped the Maharaja to suppress the
movement. The leaders of the National Conference were arrested.

After the partition of India, the Government of Pakistan with
British support insisted on Kashmir acceding to Pakistan. However the
Maharaja, who is a Hindu by religion, got his State acceded to the
Indian Union. After this, detachments recruited from Afghan tribes
namely Pathans who were concentrated on its borders broke into Kashmir.
The invasion took place with the knowledge and consent of the British
Government because the Pathans could infiltrate into Kashmir only
through the North-West Frontier Province, which is ruled by an English
Governor.

The Government of the Indian Union approached the Security Council
of the U.N.O. The Government of Britain seeing in Pakistan its
supporter and a weapon to keep Indian under control sided with
Pakistan. The Government of the USA fully supported the British in the
Security Council. The suggestion of the Soviet delegate to send to
Kashmir a Commission of the Security Council, responsible to the latter
to study the problem on the spot was rejected; it was decided to send a
Commission of observers like the one which was sent to Indonesia. The
Kashmir problem has not been solved even to this day. Although the
greater part of the raiding detachments has been driven out of Kashmir,
they are standing in readiness on its borders.

The Kashmir adventure is a clear example of the policy of the
British Government in India after her partition. It aims at maintaining
under British military control the whole of the North-West Frontier of
India, to exacerbate relations between the Indian Union and Pakistan in
order to have an occasion for a permanent open interference in their
internal affairs.

But the British and American imperialists are far from always acting
unanimously, as they did on the question of Kashmir. There are sharp
contradictions between them. Taking advantage of the economic
difficulties of Britain are her financial dependence on the USA, the
American imperialism is striving to strengthen its political and
economic position in the Indian Union as well as Pakistan. During the
Second World War the share of the USA in the foreign trade and
particularly in the imports into India considerably increased. Many
American enterprises were built in India. During the war a special
economic mission headed by Grady was sent there. American businessmen
flirted with the leaders of the National Congress and even made a show
as if they were sympathising with India in her struggle for
independence. After the Anglo-American financial agreement of 1945
American capital had opportunity to infiltrate into the countries in
the British Empire under advantageous conditions and without hindrance.
This agreement provided for the utilisation of a part of Indian
Sterling Balances for purchase of goods in the USA.

Pakistan was not left without notice by the American capitalists. In
1947, almost immediately after the separation of Pakistan, the
representatives of the American trading circles visited Karachi and
carried on negotiations with the Government of Pakistan about the
possibilities of investing capital in building Jute and Cotton Textile
factories. The press published news about negotiations for getting loan
in the U.S.A.

Americans have penetrated even into the State of Nepal, which has
not acceded to India and is considered as an independent State. Nepal,
situated in the Central, the highest part of Himalayas, occupies
strategically most convenient position, dominating over the Indo-Ganges
plain. In the past Britain has imposed upon Nepal a treaty making it
obligatory on State to refuse to have any relations with any foreign
power. Many Gurkha soldiers, were recruited in the Indian Army from
Nepal. In 1946, the Maharaja of Nepal, notwithstanding the treaty,
agree to the proposal of the USA to establish trade and diplomatic
relations. An American trade mission was sent to Nepal. The British
ruling circles got uneasy on account of this activity, but the
dependent position of British on the USA forces them to keep quiet even
under conditions when the infiltration of the U.S.A. threatens the
economic and political interests of Britain.

***

After her partition the process of demarcation of the class forces
began to develop at a very rapid tempo in India. The open domination of
the British imperialism in the country had created, in the eyes of the
politically backward strata of the toiling people, an illusion that the
interests of all the Indians, in the fight against the foreign
enslavers, were common. The illusion was very cleverly utilised by the
Indian big bourgeoisie. But ever since the creation of the Indian Union
and Pakistan, a process of demarcation has begun, in such organisations
as the National Congress and the Muslim League, which were considered
as belonging to the "entire nation" and above classes. The mass
movement of workers and peasants and the petty-bourgeoisie assumed wide
proportion in the country.

In the forefront of the struggle marches the Indian working class.
During the period of the war and pre-war years, it has grown very
strong and has matured politically. The Trade Unions also have grown.
The All-India Trade Union Congress had over 800 thousand members in
1947. This is the most influential of all the Trade Union organisations
in India, whose leading force are the Communists. The strike movement
is spreading ever increasingly, moreover the strikes do not have a
purely economic character, but almost always, the workers as well as
the employees, put forward political slogans: Complete severance from
Britain, nationalisation of the industry, eight hour working day etc.
Formerly the main centre of the working class movement was Bombay. Now
the working class of South India, Bengal and Kanpur (United Provinces)
is also marching in the forefront. Already 40 thousand of the Textile
workers of Coimbatore have on strike for 3 months.

When in March of this year the Government office employees went on
strike in Calcutta, they were dismissed at the orders from Nehru. This
evoked a movement of the office-employees in the other provinces, in
protest. The strikes of the office-employees are also taking place in
many States.

In the Indian Union as well as in Pakistan there is a big upsurge of
the peasant movement. In Bengal and Bihar, fight of the peasantry for
reduction of the rent has been going on already for many months. Big
peasant uprisings are taking place in the Malabar district of Madras
province. But particularly powerful peasant and national movement is
going on among the Telugu people (or Andhras) in the territory covering
the Northern part of the Madras Province and a big portion of the State
of Hyderabad, which is called Telengana. A huge majority of the Telugu
peasants is half beggars, tenants without any rights. Even before the
partition of India, at the end of 1946, a movement began in Telengana
which was directed against the power of Nizam -- the ruler of the State
of Hyderabad -- and against the local landlords. This movement was led
by the local organisations of the Communist Party of India and the
national organisation of Telugus, Andhra Mahasabha. The peasants of
Telengana who have risen in revolt, have liberated from Nizam a
territory with a population of over 5 million. In the 2,000 villages
covered by this territory have been organised People's Panchayats and
People's Tribunes, and detachments of self-defence have been created.

With the support of the Government of Hindustan Nizam is trying to
suppress the people's movement with brutal terror. On the borders of
the liberated districts, over 10,000 soldiers have been concentrated.
In the suppression of the peasant movement, also participates the
reactionary Muslim organisation "Ittehad Mussalmeen" composed of youth
from the landlord class. The State people's Congress as well as the
Congress leaders of the Madras Province, are trying to convince the
organisation which is leading the uprising, to stop the fight and
surrender to the mercy of Nizam. But in spite of the brutal terror and
the fact that a number of villages have been destroyed and burnt, the
insurgents have been holding on for nearly 2 years and are not thinking
of surrendering. The democratic strata of the population of that part
of Madras Province, inhabited by Telugus, is helping the insurgents in
Telengana. They are collecting for them money and various other
articles etc. The peasant movement has embraced also the states in
Central and North India (the Punjab, Rajputana, Kathiwawad), although
it has not reached such organisational level and sharpness as in the
South. Everywhere in this movement the local Communist organisations
are playing an active role, and in the South they are playing a leading
role.

The peasant movement in the States is not only agrarian in character
but also is a national liberation struggle. The Indian bourgeoisie is
particularly alarmed at the extent of this movement because all the
nationalities embraced by this movement, are living on the territory of
the Indian Union.

The national problem is particularly acute in Pakistan. Weak
economic contacts in various districts in the West and complete absence
of these contacts between the Western and Eastern parts, compel the
Government of Pakistan to have recourse to other non-economical methods
of contact between the separated parts of this State. In addition to
the propaganda for pan-Islamism, the Government is trying to unite into
one, the various provinces of Pakistan by imposing Urdu as the one,
single State language. However the decision of the Parliament about the
recognition of Urdu as a State language of Pakistan evoked such protest
in the East Bengal, in Sind and in the Pathan land, that the
Governor-General of Pakistan had to declare that Urdu will be the
common State language of the country. But in various provinces the
languages of the local population will be recognised as official
languages.

Particularly formidable is the national movement of the Afghans --
Pathans who live North-West Frontier Province and in the belt inhabited
by Frontier tribes. The North-West Frontier Province became a part of
Pakistan only as a result of the British machinations at the time of
the referendum in June 1947. A large majority of the Pathans did not
want to join either Pakistan or the Indian Union, and demanded that
independent Pathanistan should be created. This demand was supported by
the Afghan Government, which preferred to have, between their border
and the Pakistan, a state inhabited by their own tribes, -- namely
Pathanistan. The movement for the creation of an independent
Pathanistan has not stopped, and the problem of Pathans, is one of the
serious political problems confronting Pakistan.

***

Now, that the Indian big bourgeoisie has openly gone over to the
camp of reaction, the process of liberation of the Indian peasantry and
the town petty-bourgeoisie from under the ideological influence of the
big bourgeoisie is becoming intensified, and a democratic front of
workers, peasants and petty-bourgeoisie is being formed.

The Communist Party of India is marching in the forefront of all the
progressive democratic forces of the country. The working class, under
the leadership of the Communist Party of India, is leading the peasant
movement, and actively helping the peasantry to throw off the yoke of
the landlords, princes and money-lenders.

The Communist groups appeared in India the twenties, during the
period of the upsurge of the national liberation, anti-imperialist
movement. In 1933 these scattered Communist groups were united and a
Provisional Central Committee was formed. But in 1934, the Communist
Party was already declared illegal and had to work underground.

During the years of the upsurge of the national-liberation movement,
which had begun before the Second World War, the Indian Communists had
achieved considerable successes in strengthening the Trade Unions, in
organising the peasants and the democratic students. Carrying their
work under the slogan of creating a united national, anti-imperialist
front, the Communists had won influence in the ranks of the local
organisations of the national congress. During the period of the Second
World War, the Communist Party of India got an opportunity to work
legally. The Indian Communist, while continuing the fight against
British domination, for complete independence of the country, at the
same time strove to get India to participate actively in the war
against the bloc of the fascist aggressors.

In June 1943 the first Congress of the Communist Party of India took
place. It was attended by 139 delegates representing a membership of
16,000. Already at this time the Communist Party of India was enjoying
a great influence not only among the workers but also the peasantry --
particularly in Andhra, in Kerala, in the Punjab and Bengal.

After the 1st Congress, although the leadership of the National
Congress and the Congress of the Socialist Party, began a campaign of
Communist baiting, the influence of the Communist Party continued to
grow. The All India Trade Union Congress, in which the Communists play
a leading role, has become the most powerful Trade Union organization.
It had a membership of over 800,000 in 1947. The Communists have
extended their influence also in peasant Unions and in Students'
organisation.

In March 1948, the Second Congress of the Communist Party of India
was held, at which 632 delegates representing 89,263 party members were
present. The Congress registered the growth of the influence of the
party not only in the working class but also in the peasantry and the
democratic intelligentsia. At the same time the Second Congress pointed
out that the old leadership of the Central Committee had made some
serious mistakes; that it did not at once characterise the Mountbatten
Plan as a new maneuver of the British imperialists and in the beginning
considered that he realisation of this plan would constitute a certain
step forward towards complete independence of India. Only in August,
1947 the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India made a
correct evaluation of the Mountbatten Plan, as an imperialist manoeuvre
calculated to maintain positions of British imperialism in India in new
conditions. The Second Congress also pointed out that the leadership of
the Central Committee did not understand correctly the essence of the
struggle for formation of the democratic front, interpreting it as a
bloc of the top ranks of left parties and groups, and not as a union of
the workers, peasants, democratic intelligentsia and petty-bourgeoisie.

The Second Congress of the Communist Party of India put forward
formation of the democratic front as the most important task and
indicated main points of its programme: Complete severance from the
British Empire and formation of a democratic government in India;
liquidation of feudal states and granting of the right of
self-determination including secession and formation of an independent
State to all nationalities in India, abolition of landlordism without
compensation; nationalisation of key industries and the establishments
belonging to the foreign capital; nationalisation of banks;
establishment of workers’ control over factories and workshops;
guaranteeing of a minimum living wage and establishment of eight hour
working day.

The Governments of the Indian Union and Pakistan are trying to
suppress the democratic movement in India by means of repression and
terror and also by disruption. The repression first of all comes down
upon the Communist Party, which is leading this movement. In West
Bengal, Delhi and a number of States the Communist Party has been
declared illegal. In Madras Province all the newspapers of the
Communist Party have been banned. Hundreds of leading workers of the
Party have been arrested without charge. The Government of Pakistan is
carrying on similar repression against the working class movement.

But the India bourgeoisie, landlords and their British masters
cannot root out the influence of the Communists among the masses. The
Communist Party of India is enjoying great authority in the country.
This is testifies by the strikes which took place in protest against
the arrest of Communists, in Bombay, Cawnpore, Coimbatore, Agra, and
other Indian towns, by the peasant actions in a number of provinces,
and protests by Professors, Writers, Lawyers, and Journalists.

In spite of a comparatively small membership, the Communist Party of
India has become a real vanguard of the whole democratic movement in
the country and to leads the struggle of the working class and the
peasantry of Hindustan and Pakistan for the final destruction of the
colonial rule, for the liquidation of feudal survivals and feudal
parceling out of India.